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Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Last night I made Cornish Game Hens with stuffing, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce and gravy. I bought those "bake in bag" pre-seasoned game hens from Perdue. First time trying them but I was really happy with the way they came out. Just throw them in an oven for an hour and out popped two perfectly cooked birds. Because they bake inside the bag the skin wasn't exactly crisp, so I turned the broiler on for a few minutes after removing them from the bag, and then definitely helped. The brussels sprouts were steamed and then sauteed in a little butter and rosemary over high heat. Getting a little black on them with the rosemary adds a nice flavor. The gravy was home made, but the stuffing came out of a box and the cranberry sauce was canned. Overall it was an excellent meal that took only maybe 25 minutes of active cooking in front of the stove.

Came out alright, not exactly what I had envisioned. A little too much wine and not quite enough meat. Not bad for completely winging it. I didn't serve it yet, I figured I'd make the sauce and then let it to let the flavors come together

I basically did this again last night, but I had significantly more ground beef to work with, a little less wine, some more fresh basil. Followed drkCrix's advice and added pancetta this time as well. I was much happier with it overall this time, it came out more balanced and heartier than the first time. I can't wait to have some of the leftovers now that the flavors have had some time to meld together in the fridge!

Preheat oven to 300 degF. Heat 2/3 of the olive oil (~6tbsp) in a small pan over medium-low heat. It should begin to bubble slightly. Continue to cook for 10 minutes. Strain off oil, discard and wipe down pan to remove residue. Return the peppercorns to the pan with the unused (~3tbsp) olive oil and add the nutmeg and orange zest and mix together over low heat. Mix salt, sugar and baking soda together in a small bowl. Thoroughly cover the tenderloin, rubbing the mixture in until the surface becomes somewhat tacky. Coat the top and sides of the roast with the peppercorn mixture, being sure to press the mixture into the meat to stick it on firmly. Place in the oven and cook until internal temp at the thickest portion reads ~120 degF. Allow to rest for 20 min before serving.

Melt butter in a pan. Sautee shallots over medium heat until soft. add red wine, beef stock, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and orange juice. heat until bubbling slowly and allow to reduce by half. Reduce heat to medium-low. In a microwave, warm the heavy cream (about 30-45 sec in my 700w microwave). Add the cream slowly to the sauce and mix thoroughly. continue heating on medium-low with occasional stirring until it begins to thicken to the desired consistency. check taste and add salt/pepper as necessary.

Notes:
A brief warning: I followed many aspects of the Cook's illustrated article, but I really did wing a lot of the proportions because I was cooking a much smaller roast than was specified in the article. The sauce in particular is a complete estimation of what I actually used because I pretty much eye-balled the whole thing. Use your judgement and taste!

The flavor of the pepper is much much reduced by cooking in oil and discarding. This was explained in the Cook's Illustrated article, but as a chemist it made perfect sense to me. Basically you're extracting all the super sharp flavors contained in the pepper by dissolving them into the oil. Adding the nutmeg and orange zest allows you to return some of the fragrant flavor compounds, without having to deal with the overwhelming spice that pepper can bring.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Last night was my dad's Chili. I went over to their place to watch the evening football game and have dinner. My grandparents had sent my dad a bunch of avocados from their back yard (they live in California) and so we made some fresh guac, which was delicious.

Tonight I've got some pork tenderloins defrosted and ready to go. I'm planning on doing a dijon and herb crusted pork tenderloin. I'm going to coat the meat with dijon mustard and then dredge in herbed breadcrumbs. Roast that for a bit and then serve au jus with yukon gold mashed potatoes and green beans.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Hope you bought some good pepperoni for that, not some paper thin pre-sliced bag of slim jim looking meat gum. For me, the pepperoni has to be charred around the edges, and look like a little bowl of grease soup, lol.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Originally Posted by frogmeat69

Hope you bought some good pepperoni for that, not some paper thin pre-sliced bag of slim jim looking meat gum. For me, the pepperoni has to be charred around the edges, and look like a little bowl of grease soup, lol.

Yea, I got a stick of Boar's Head pepperoni. Gonna slice it pretty thick so I can get the awesome cupping action with the crispy edges. The site I linked to (serious eats) has little articles about all types of awesome things like that: Why pepperoni cups, which pepperonis and mozzarella are best, how to make your own sausage... And thats just the pizza lab articles. So many awesome pro-tips and recipes on this site. Reading the stuff that this dude Kenji does (mainly the food lab) always has me salivating and my stomach rumbling.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Ok, so i baked and consumed several slices of said pizza. The sauce came out pretty darn tasty, would use the recipe again. Unfortunately there were a few deficiencies as well. Primarily, the dough was too bread-like, not crispy or even baguette like. The hole structure was way too fine. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that my house was absolutely freezing all weekend, which let the yeast do its thing properly. The dough was also not crispy enough on the bottom, and I used a little too much olive oil to coat the pan, leaving it greasy. Lastly, I cut a few of the pepperonis a bit too thick. Overall it was tasty, but a qualified success with room for improvement.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Made some burgers last night. Ground up a little chuck and short-rib on my meat grinder. Smashed them on the stove top to get that nice crust, a little onion, some american cheese all nice and melty. Put it on a Martin's potato roll with a spoonful of sauce, side of tater tots (more sauce to dip in) and a side salad. Always tasty and pretty quick to make as well.

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Tonight I did spice-grilled flap meat tacos with a roasted poblano fresh salsa. Put some refried beans on the side to go along with. Meat was absolutely delicious but the thick parts were a bit under cooked.

Steak:
Salsa
Prepped and ready for eating!

Last week i followed up on the pizza I made a couple weeks earlier. It came out better, but still needs a bit of tweaking

Re: What is O-Dog having for supper tonight?

Last night I hit up my local watering hole for some happy hour priced foods (pulled pork and beef sliders), but I got started on this

Made the stock and braised the beef, its currently sitting in the dutch oven in my enclosed porch keeping cool. Tonight I'll make the gravy and assemble. I hope its worth the 2 day effort. I'm already concerned I bought the wrong cut and didn't quite cook it long enough. It was pretty tender, but not ready to fall apart. I'm sure it'll be delicious, but when you put this much time into a recipe you want it to come out right.